Mechanism for operating stuff-gates



(No ModeL) v A. A. KELLOGG.

MECHANISM FOR OPERATING STUFF GATES.

Paten ted Ja n. 13, 1891.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALBERT A. KELLOGG, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

MECHANISM FOR OPERATING STUFF-GATES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,555, dated January13, 1891.

4 Application filed January 30, 1889- 'Serial No. 298,153. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ALBERT A. KELLOGG, of Holyoke, in the county ofHampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Mechanism for Operating Stuff- Gates, of which thefollowing is a specification, reference being had to the accompanyingdrawings, forming part thereof.

My invention relates tothe gate which governs the passage of pulp fromthe regulating-box to a paper-machine. v These gates, which are usuallymade of copper to prevent corrosion, are mounted in ways upon one sideof the regulating-box insuch manner as to be capable of verticalmovement and cover an opening in the side of the box at or near thebottom thereof, through which when the gate is raised the semi-liquidpulp flows through a trough or other conductor to the machine. Theheight to which the gate is raised governs the thickness of the web ofpaper made by the machine, and so delicate is the adjustment which mustbe made in raising the gate that a variation of the one one-hundredthpart of an inch in the height of the gate will cause a difference ofmore than onefourth of a pound in a team in the weight of the finish edpaper. It thus becomes necessary to provide means for raising andlowering the gate which will secure this extremely delicate adjustmentof the latter, and the means heretofore employed has consisted of asimple screw-rod turning in fixed bearings above the gate, the threadedend of which rod enters a nut secured to the gate. It has been found inpractice that this meansof raising and lowering the gate is not entirelyreliable because of the lost motion incident to a screwrod howevercarefully made, and, again, because the amount of lost motion is beingconstantly increased by the wear of the threads I have discovered thatthis objection can be entirely overcome by combining with the screwrodand gate means for exerting a constant elastic pressure against thelower side of the nut, whereby its threads are pressed upwardly againstthe threads on the rod continuously, thus preventing lost motion betweensaid threads regardless of the wear of the latter.

My invention therefore consists in the mechanism for operatingstuff-gates embodying such feature, hereinafterfully described, andparticularly pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated the construction which Iprefer to use in the practice of my invention, wherein- Figure 1 shows aportion of a regulatingbox having my improved operating mechanismapplied to the gate thereof. Fig. 2 is a central vertical sectional viewthereof. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the hand-wheel which operates thescrew-rod. Fig. 4 is asimilar view of the upper cylinder-head. Fig. 5isacrosssection of the nut, taken upon line y of Fig. 2.

Like letters designatelike parts in the several figures.

In Fig. l, the letter A designates a portion of a regulating-box havingin one side, at the bottom thereof, an opening communicating with atrough A, by which the pulp is conducted to the paper-machine.

The letter B designates the gate, mounted in vertical ways 17 upon eachside of said opening, whereby said gate is adapted by a verticalmovement to open and close said opening and to govern the flow of thepulp to the machine.

The gate B is provided with a lateral extension 5, which has hithertoformed the nut to receive the screw-rod by which the gate has beenoperated.

The novel means shown herein for operating the gate B are as follows: Acylinder G, preferably made of brass and having the upper and lowerheads 0 c, is suitably supported in a vertical position above the gate,as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. W'ithin said cylinder is located apiston-head D anda nut E, the latter being connected to the former bythe ribs 6, which are preferably three in numher, as shown in Fig. 5,and which bear against the inner surface of the cylinder, and there byserve to guide and steady the movement of the piston-head and nut. Twolugs e, se-

cured upon theinner surface of the cylinder, receive between them one ofthe ribs 6 and preventrotary movement of the nut and piston-head,whilepermitting them to move freely lengthwise of the cylinder. As shown, theguiding-lugs e are located upon the inner end of aplug 0 screwed into atapped orifice in the cylinder; but such construction is not material.The piston-head D is provided with a suitable packingdisk d, whereby alight joint with the bore of the cylinder is secured, and seatedcentrally within said piston-head is one end of a rod D, which extendsdownwardly through the lower head 0 of the cylinder and through astufflng-box 0 secured to or formed integral with said head, and whichred at its lower end is screwed into or is otherwise securely connectedto the extension Z) of gate 13. A collar (1 upon said rod within thecylinder stops the downward movement of the rod by its contact with heada when the gate is in position to entirelycut off the flow of the pulpfrom box A to the machine. A screw-rod F, mounted in the upper head ofthe cylinder in such manner as to revolve without endwise progression,enters nut E at its lower end, and at its upper end carries a hand-wheelf or other device by which it can be revolved manually. By revolvingsaid screw-rod, therefore, nut E, piston-head D, and gate B will besimultaneously raised or lowered as the rod is turned in one or theother direction.

For the purpose of facilitating accurate adjustment of the gate, Iprovide head (2 of the cylinder with aperipheral flange, as shown, andlocate in said flange a series of vertical orifices, as shown in Fig 4.Hand-wheelf is provided with one or more orifices, as shown in Fig. 3,through which a pinfis inserted,its lower end entering one oftheorifices in the flangeon head 0. The distance between the orifices inthe flange \villbe so gaged that movement of pin f and the hand-wheelfrom one of said orifices to the next one will cause an ascertainedamount of movement of the gate, and thus an accurate adjustment of thegate can be effected irrespective of actual observation of the gateitself. The pin f, moreover, securely locks the hand-wheel fromaccidental movement. A pipe G, leading from the primary source ofpressure, enters the cylinder at the bottom thereof. The steam,compressed air, or other fluid enters the cylinder through said pipe andby its pressure against the piston-head serves as an elastic cushion toretain the threads of nut E against the lower side of the threads on thescrew-rod in such manner that lost motion is avoided, notwithstandingthe wear of said threads. It will thus be seen that I secure an accurateadjustment of the gate at every point in its range of movement, a resultwhich is of the highest importance in the manufacture of paper. Ashereinbefore stated, the same result can be secured by the use of one ormore springs so located as to exert an upward pressure against thepiston or directly against nut E; but owing to the liability of springsto break and to lose their tension I prefer to utilize fluid pressure,as herein shown and described.

The operation of the mechanism thus con-- structed will be obvious fromthe foregoing description. It being known how high the gate must beraised to secure the desired weight to the paper to be made by themachine, and how many revolutions of handwheel f will raise the gate tosuch height, pin f is withdrawn from engagement with the flange on thecylinder, and the hand-wheel is given the desired amount of movement,the orifices in the cylinder-flange enabling the adj ustment thereof tobe made with perfect accuracy. Pin f is then inserted in the orificebeneath it and securely locks the wheel in such position. The pressureexerted by the fluid against the piston insures instant movement of 'nutE and the gate with every movement of hand-wheelfin either direction, sothat there is no lost motion to impair the accuracy of the adjustment.

I do not wish to limit myself to the exact details of constructionherein shown and described, as the same can be modified in various wayswithout departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim, and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The stuff gate operating mechanism herein described, comprising acylinder, at piston-head located within said cylinder, a screwrodoperatively connected with said pistonhead, a rod connecting thepiston-head with the gate, and means for admitting fluid under pressureto said cylinder, combined and operating substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a stuif-gate, of a cylinder located adjacentthereto, a screwrod supported at one end of said cylinder, a piston-headlocated within said cylinder and having connected therewith a nut toreceive said screw-rod, a pipe for admitting fluid under pressure tosaid cylinder, and a rod connecting said piston-head with the gate,arranged and operating substantially as set forth.

3. The combination, with a stuff-regulating box having an outlet-openingat or near the bottom thereof, and a vertically-movable gate for closingsaid opening, of a screw-rod and nut operatively connected with saidgate for raising and lowering the latter, and means, substantially asdescribed, for exerting a constant fluid or liquid pressure against saidnut in a plane parallel with the axis of said screw-rod, whereby lostmotion between said nut and rod is prevented, substantially as setforth.

4. The combination, with gate 13, having the lateral extension I), ofcylinder 0, pistonhead D, located within said cylinder, red D, I mountedin one end of said cylinder, substanconnecting said piston-head with thegate, t-ially as described. nut E, also located Within said cylinder andhaving positive connection with the piston- ALBERT KELLOGG' head, aguide to prevent rotary movement Witnesses: of said nut, and screw-rodF, entering said W. 1-1. CHAPMAN,

nut at one end and having its opposite end J. E. CHAPMAN.

